St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-06-04


Antiquity-How Cartoons are Made-Ar-
| fists, of Celebrity in This Line-Jos. Keep
pier, Bernhard Gillian and c. j. Taylor.
Caricature is an art that can be traced
back until it is lost in antiquity Upon
crcumstantial evidence it is safe, think,
to say that it was coeval with the first
appearance of man on this earth; for,
as an appreciation of the ludicrous side
of life is inherent in person, So also
is the faculty of pOrtraying it in some
way or other. When the walls of Pom
peii were unearthed forty years ago col
ored frescoes Of ludicrous figures, ami
mails, etc, were found, and among the
Chinese are still extant comic figures known
to be over 1000 years old. Indeed among
sculptures of the Egyptians Of 1000 years
ago are some of the most humorous con-
ceptions and caricatures.
But carcature as a power never reached
its height until the last quarter Of a century,
when its influence grew so great that, as you
know. Bismarck forbids the sale of several
humorous papers in Germany (the London
Punch among others) for fear of the popular
effect of some caricatures cf himself; and it
is matter of recent history that Mr.. Blaine
threatened to sue Puck during the campaign
of 1884 for publishing Gillam's "Tattooed
Man. cartoon. Boss Tweed is said to have
offered to pay 100000 if the Harpers would
discontinue their attacks upon him. Il
don't mind the newspaper editorials" said
he, but d-n those pictures! The poor
ct b,,t
body can understand those cartoons
The present style of cartooning in color
was originated in France, and first appeared
in this country in San Francisco. A paper
was published there called The Wasp, which
was printed in black with one tint; it is now
printed in colors. Mr.. Keppler started the
German Puck in st. Louis, in 1870, which came
TO an untimely death within few months.
In 1876 he revived it in New York and soon
afterward Judge was published. The Eng
lish Puck was started in March, 1877. There
have been a host of colored cartoon papers
started in America in the last twenty years,
but these two are the only ones that have
secured a permanent footing. Among those
which are now only a memory may be men
toned Wild Oats, Fifth Areaue, Phunny Phel-
Fair, Rambler and Punchinello as printing
black and white pictures, and Whip, lingo,
Chic, Freaks, Sam, .Srars, Latefne and one OF
two others which published colored cartoons.
1t may be of interest to some readers tC
know how cartoons are produced. In the
first place after finding his subject, the artist
proceeds to make his composition roughly
upon paper, after which it is drawn upon
very fine grained stone, made especially for
photographic work. 1t requires at least two
days to produce double-page cartoon and
the smaller pictures in proportion; the col
oring takes another day. From this it can
be seen that the cartoonist must be very
industrious worker, for day is set apart for
each branch of his business, and the cartoons
are thus ground out with the regularity OF
clockwork.
JOSEPH KEPPLER.
Joseph Keppler, the great cartoonist who
is inseparably associated with the growth of
caricature in America was born in Vienna
about fifty years ago. His father was